Shining Brighter than the Sun
by Hulio
Summary: Times are dark when James Potter leaves Lily Evan's, but when two unexpected visitors arrive at St.Mungo's, where Lily works, she wonders if her horrible situation will ever get better. A long One-shot


Lily ran a hand through her hair, glancing for the fifth time within the minute at the large clock hanging at the front of the room. There was a large silence that hung in the air around her which she had grown accustomed to over the past few months. The desk around her remained unoccupied, the telephone on her desk remained unused, the only sound she was able to hear was from the flickering light above her.

Her eye lids drooped slightly as the pen in her hand became heavier and heavier with every passing second. Lily longed to sleep, to rest her tired body and mind. She never had enough time to rest, there were too many more important things to be doing. Lily constantly busied herself with her work, constantly busied herself in mindless repetitive tasks. Although when she was resting, it wasn't in the comfort of her own bed, she lay on the living room couch, cursing the god-forsaken upstairs bedroom that was once _theirs_.

She let a small sigh escape her lips, dropping the pen and relaxing into her chair. Multiple documents and reports were scattered across her desk, unread, unsigned, unimportant. The minute she had left school she had begun working at the hospital, and Lily resented every minute of it. Mending injured Aurors who fought for their freedom and happiness, how she wished the roles were reversed. Lily wanted to fight and protect all the lives of the ones she could sincerely relate to.

Since the death of her parents, when she had failed to protect them from her kind and realized that she was the one responsible. Her sister, ever since that day, blamed her for the loss of their parents and everyone had always informed Lily that her sister was wrong. However, after months of sleepless nights, she discovered they were lying to protect her, it was her fault. She had then vowed, because she knew she could never change the past, to protect and fight for everyone to prevent the same situation from repeating itself. It killed her to witness family members upon family members enter the hospital and never leave, it killed her to have to break it to their families. She was not the one saving her family, fighting for them, she was the one who failed once more to do what she should have done. Guilt constantly sat on her shoulder and reminded her of everything she was failing to do.

It was a few months ago when she had enrolled herself in Auror training, she would fight for everyone no matter what tasks they threw at her. Her trainers and examiners saw this within her almost instantly and bumped up her graduation on more than one account. The average Auror spends seven months in training, however Lily managed to completely everything within a period of four and a half months, record time. She had given the hospital the notice about her departure and was set to jump right into the field in less than a weeks time.

She directed her attention to the corridor as a familiar face wheeled a cleaning cart down the hallway towards her. "Lily" cried the elderly janitor, "You're still here? The clocks not broken in here is it?" he asked, flashing her a cheery smile and pulling out his broom from the cart.

"Albert" replied Lily, smiling at him in return, "You know, we're wizards, you don't have to manually sweep the floor. You can charm your broom to do so"

He laughed, nodding in agreement, "Of course I know that dear," he stated, "It just doesn't do the job good enough for my standards, so I'd rather do it myself"

"Well, I'm never one to question doing things the _Muggle_ way," Lily agreed, attempting to get back to all the paperwork she had to completely before her departure, "As you were"

He swept the pile of dirt he had collected over towards her desk. Leaning his broom up beside her garbage can and leaning towards her, "Is something troubling you, my dear, you seem.." he said, sighing before finishing, "distracted"

She nodded, "I guess that would make sense," Lily stated, "After all I am quite distracted lately with all the stuff I've got going on right now"

"If it's boy troubles you're talking about," he began, "You'd be better off talking to my wife. She's such an expert, I tell you she can read me like a book and probably write one at that"

"It's not boy troubles.." Lily replied, shrugging her shoulders, however at his look she knew he could see right through her, "Well it might be, but that's not.. well only part of the reason."

"The other part is that you're leaving us aren't you, off to go and fight for the world" he interrupted, smirking slightly, the expression on his face resembling the proud expression her father constantly gave her.

Lily sighed, "I didn't want anyone to know," she admitted, "I didn't want people to make such a big deal of it, besides it could go terribly wrong and I could end up back here on Monday, not in the way you would want to see me"

Albert frowned in reply, "That's not true," he protested, "You're going to be the best they've ever seen, you're going to be amazing. Shine brighter than the sun"

A small laugh escaped Lily's mouth as she deposited her quill. "Has anyone ever told you that you're brilliant, Albert?" she demanded, "Because you should hear that more often, I don't think I've smiled this much since I was back at school"

He shrugged, picking up his broom, "I have a gift, I s'oppose." He started his job once again, motioning to her telephone, "You've got a flashing light there, Madame"

She smiled, picking up the receiver, mouthing her thanks to the elderly man before directing her attention to the woman on the telephone.

"Ms. Evan's?" the reception lady demanded,

Lily cleared her throat, "Yes, speaking." she replied,

"Oh good," the lady sighed in reply, "I thought everyone in your department had checked out for the night, anyway, there are two men in critical condition that should be arriving in the delivery room within the next few minutes."

"Say no more" Lily interrupted, "I'm on my way, please, if you find anyone else, send them to me"

Lily deposited the receiver, grabbing her wand off her desk and jogging down the corridor, past Alfred, into the largest room located on her floor.

"Evans!" exclaimed Sirius Black, nodding his thanks towards her arm around his waist as he rocked on his feet, "It's Moony, we don't.. I don't-"

"Stop" she replied, leading the two men over towards a adjoining room.

Reacting instinctively she grabbed hold of Remus Lupin, after quickly summoning a chair with her wand and lightly pushing Sirius Black backwards into it. Using her auror training strength, she carried Remus across the room and placed him on the nearest bed in the room.

Sirius watched as her wand moved across one of his best mates body, healing the gashes as if they were paper cuts. Within minutes his mate was regaining colour in his skin tone as the cuts seemed to stretch the strong skin over the wound, closing it off completely. The blood that had previously been spooling from his mates body, returning back to his insides. He sat up slightly in his chair to get a better look, although found himself trying to get to his feet as the look of his best mate looking completely normal.

"Sit down" Lily hissed, her back turned towards Sirius, "Or never walk again"

He obeyed, for the first time in a long time, and watched as Lily hooked his mate up to some sort of breathing apparatus, while proceeding to slowly move her wand across his body. When she finished, she turned towards the counter pulling out a clip board and a piece of paper, transferring all the data she had just collected from scanning Remus' body onto the document.

She smiled to herself, "So Sirius," she began, "Would you like to hear some absolutely wonderful news?"

Sirius jumped to his feet, ignoring her protests, and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. "Thank you so much!" he cried, pulling away and kissing her forehead, "Brilliant you are, absolutely positively brilliant!"

"You might change your mind after I fix your ankle," she warned him, "They've yet to develop a less painful spell for mending broken bones"

He laughed at the idea of pain, and limped back over towards the chair.

Lily quickly summoned a large pack of ice and a small foot stool, "Now, I'm not going to be sympathetic about this, I'm just going to get your ankle fixed and not beat around the bush"

Sirius shrugged in reply, "That seems perfectly fine to me, besides I've dealt with my fair share of pain over the years, I like to think I have a pretty high tolerance for it."

She rolled her eyes at his response, and placed his foot on the small stool, holding out her wand towards his broken ankle. "Prepare yourself for this in whichever way you have to"

He smiled, relaxing back into the chair, putting on a brave face as she muttered the charm. Instantly, his foot felt as if all the bones below his knee had shattered to pieces and slowly began to put themselves back together in a slow and agonizing manner. His broken ankle bones twisted and pulled, forcing themselves back into their rightful place. When the sensation stopped, the pain slowly faded however lingered much longer than he wished it would.

"Alright" he cringed, reaching down to message his ankle, "That was painful"

Lily nodded, placing the ice pack on his foot, "Ice and rest will help," she informed him, "If you stay here and don't move for the time being then you should be able to go back to work within the next two days"

Sirius sighed, smirking slightly, "After the night we just had, I was hoping for a little more time off"

Lily laughed to please him, crossing the room, telling him not to do anything stupid while she was gone before disappearing into the hallway. The sound the heal of her shoes made signalling her retreat down the hallway.

Sirius took in quickly the room around him, staring at his now mended foot and his unconscious, but alive, best mate. Lily had done wonders like they always knew she would, clearly she was an expert at her job, more knowledgeable than the other healers he was absolutely positive. Only a few minutes had passed before he heard the sound of her shoes down the hallway, growing louder and louder until she reached the room.

Lily yawned as she came back into the room, putting down the tray she had entered with on the nearest counter. She lifted one of the six cups on the tray, examining it briefly before grabbing another and walking over towards Sirius. "This is a pain reliever" she said, handing him the taller cup, "And this prevents the newly mended bones in your ankle from breaking again until they heal properly with the other bones inside your foot"

Sirius gazed into the two cups, observing the brightly coloured liquids in each. "I'm guessing these don't have a very nice taste, they look too much like the disgusting medication Madame Pomfrey used to give us."

She gazed at him with an amused expression on her face, "Just drink it already, Remus would've finished his four cups by now and you haven't even finished one"

"Don't you go comparing me to my best mate," Sirius retorted, sceptically swirling the liquid around in the glass. He sighed moments later, shrugging his shoulders and downing the first, followed by the second, as quickly as he could.

"I was right" he told Lily, "Disgusting"

She agreed, never having actually tasted the medication but recognized the reaction from passed patients. Silence fell over the pair of them as Lily scanned over the documented information she had collected until Sirius broke her concentration.

"You seemed to know exactly what to do when we arrived, Lils" Sirius begun, "I never doubted your abilities at all, however as you know my intelligence about healing isn't as evolved as yours, so I was hoping you could tell me what the hell kind of a spell could do that to a person" he finished, gesturing towards Remus.

She sighed, "What you need to know is I didn't learn this through a book, Sirius, I only know this because of my past." Lily admitted, placing the clip board down on the counter and pulling up a chair beside him. "In fifth year, before Snape called me a Mudblood-"

"Don't ca-" Sirius interrupted, however she put up her hand to silence him.

"I'm a Mudblood, Sirius" Lily told him firmly, "It doesn't bother me, I'm actually rather proud to be one"

He nodded in agreement, motioning her to continue on.

"In fifth year," she repeated, "Before Snape called me a Mudblood, he had talked to me multiple times about a spell that he was working on, one of his own creation, Sectumsempra, he called it. He had assured me it was only for enemies, he had promised me he would never use it to harm anyone, only to protect himself if need be. Although when are friendship died, I knew he would never keep that promise, so I had memorized all the signs and symptoms that a victim would've had if he used the spell against them."

"You're telling me that, that dirty piece of filth did this?" Sirius demanded, growing angry.

Lily placed her hand on top of his to calm him, "He did, but he did tell me the counter curse, that I took and developed so it would increase the chance of full recovery. So when I saw Remus, his pale tone, the gashes over his body as if carved by invisible swords. I knew right away,"

"I'm so grateful that it was you who was here tonight," Sirius told her, "I haven't seen you in months and I've been worrying, we've all been worrying so much."

"You've been worrying!" she retorted, "I've been cooped up in a hospital well you four have been out, gallivanting around, and risking your lives! I've been driving myself crazy worrying about all of you, although seeing you here, tonight, it's such a huge relief"

"The feeling is mutual" he agreed, squeezing her hand. "So, tell me how you've been? How this life treating you?"

She yawned once more, laughing as she did so, "Trying, evidently." Lily responded, "Long night and days, I've completely devoted myself into my work and being perfectly honest, am lacking a social life. I haven't seen anyone from school for months, although I did run into Frank one morning a few weeks ago. We were both headed to work though, so we couldn't talk for very long. I'm barely sleeping and because of that have picked up the night shifts here."

"Barely sleeping?" Sirius questioned, "Lils, is there something going on? Something you want to tell me, you know I'll always listen"

Although before Lily could decline the offer, she noticed movement from Remus' corner and jumped to her feet. She leaned over the side of the bed, bringing her head close to his, "Remus" she whispered, "It's Lily, can you hear me?"

He slowly opened his eyes, a small smile growing on his face upon seeing her, "Loud and clear" he responded, as Lily helped him into a sitting position.

"Moony!" shouted Sirius, attempting to stand, however aborted under Lily's glare. "I'm glad to see you're awake!"

"Padfoot!" said Remus in reply, rubbing his temples "Use your bloody inside voice!"

Lily chuckled at the two men before her, grabbing the tray of four cups off the counter and placing them on the table beside Remus' bed. "Now," she started handing him the first cup, "This first one heals your wounds better on the inside of your body"

He nodded, drinking the first cup without hesitation, "This second one," Lily continued handing him another, "Is an antibiotic, which kills any harmful bacteria that may have entered your body through the wounds."

Remus frowned upon smelling the liquid inside the cup, although drank it just as quickly as the first. "The third and forth, are pain relievers, so you can function properly." she told him, watching as he finished each cup.

Sirius gazed at his best mate, eye wide, "How in the world did you manage to drink four of those," he demanded, "I could barely get one down!"

He chuckled in reply, "Considering all the healing medication I've had to take every month for my furry little problem, I'd like to think I'm used to the horrible taste by now. The best thing to do is to just get it over with,"

"So doc" Remus said, turning towards Lily, "What's it looking like for me?"

She smiled, grabbing her clip board. "Well, I've healed all the gashes and they should no longer be any trouble to you, although you might have some scars from the larger ones."

Remus shrugged, "It's not like I don't have any already," he stated, "What else?"

"Not to go into too much detail, you're perfectly fine and should be cleared to return to work at the end of the week. You are going to have to stay in hospital though, there needs to be further testing done and if you prefer I can register you as my patient and do them all for you." she answered him, unable to hid her smile.

He smiled back in reply, "Sounds like a brilliant idea," Remus agreed, "After all, we wouldn't want anyone seeing my medical records, finding out about my condition and submitting me to the magical creature care up on the seventh floor."

"I wouldn't let them even if they tried, Remus" Lily told him sharply.

He then turned his head towards Sirius, "Hows your ankle treating you?" he asked, as Lily retook her seat in the chair beside Sirius.

"Still hurting, but better" he informed him, "Thanks for asking,"

Remus sighed, "I wonder how it's going out there tonight, we didn't leave them in very good condition." he admitted, "I'm just hoping no one is hurt,"

"I haven't gotten another call or anything," Lily said, "As far as I know there are no more injuries"

Both Sirius and Remus nodded a the news, "If you don't mind me asking, what's it like being out there?"

They were both baring very serious expressions, and shared a look before informing her of anything. Lily had never remembered seeing them so realistic, she almost swore they looked slightly afraid.

"It's rough" Sirius finally informed her, "People die out there, Lils, and it's just so frighting to know that at any moment your best friend or your team mate could be taken from you, killed or captured."

Remus nodded in agreement, "It's not like we don't enjoy fighting for the future, but it can be extremely hard at times. Sometimes I just wish we could all go back to those carefree days, when none of this affected us, when a group of people weren't targeting the people they considered to be filth"

The three sat in silence, each absorbed in the own worry of their own worlds. Although they were all pulled from their thoughts, as a soft blue light came flying down from the sky, passing through the window, forming into a stag before them. It was the most curious thing Lily had ever seen, however Remus and Sirius didn't share her same emotion, it becoming clear to her that it was obviously something they had seen before. The stag spoke in a calm voice, to which Lily instantly recognized as the voice of James Potter.

She gasped slightly upon hearing it, his voice catching her completely off guard. "No more injuries, all survived, caught three death eaters, hope all is well, see you soon". The blue mist slowly drifted away once it had stopped speaking and then disappeared into the darkness of the room.

Lily turned her head away, so her face could not be seen by either of the men. Her eyes were tightly closed as she tried to control her emotions. She held back her tears, telling herself that this was not the right place to have a break down. She put on a brave face and turned her attention back to Sirius and Remus, who wore relieved expression upon their faces until spotting the hers.

"Bloody hell" Sirius hissed under his breath, "What's going on, Lily?"

"What do you mean?" she asked weakly, not daring to meet his eyes.

"What happened between you two?" Remus asked softly, after sharing a look with Sirius.

Suddenly, she felt herself unable to control her emotions any longer and under their concerned expression tears began to stream down her face. "Surely he told you" she whispered, quickly wiping them away.

Remus shook his head as Sirius got to his feet and pulled Lily into a standing position, pulling her down onto his lap, "He just showed up on my doorstep one day with a bag in his hand," Sirius told her, pushing her hair back behind her ears, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"It's been months, Lily." Remus told her, "And James is miserable, although he refuses to admit it"

She sighed, doing her best to collect herself, however at the mention of his name more tears fell from her eyes. After a few seconds and a few deep breaths, she began, "He came home after Auror training a few months ago and was completely exhausted, as usual, but also really worried and I questioned it."

Sirius wrapped both his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, "It all just happened so fast, I asked him what was wrong and before I knew it he was going on about how I wasn't safe when he was around, that I would be better off without him... things like that...We argued about it for a few days and then one day" there was a catch in her throat as she finished her sentence "I woke up to find all of his things and him...gone"

More tears cascaded down her cheeks as both men shared disapproving glances; neither could believe their best mate would do such a horrible thing. Sirius pulled Lily even closer, placing a kiss upon her forehead. "I miss him so much" she whispered, unsure whether she was heard.

"He misses you too Lily," started Remus "It's killing him being away from you,"

"Then why'd he leave!" she shouted, shooting up from her position on Sirius' lap "He swore to me that he would never go! He promised!" fresh tears now fell from her eyes, as both men shared sad looks.

"You know why I'm so tired!" Lily screamed, "It's because I'm drowning myself in work, I hate going back to that flat, all the images of him and all the things we shared are still there. It still smells like him as well! I can't sleep because everything in that place reminds me of him."

"Oh Lily," said Sirius, standing once more and taking her in his arms. "I'm so sorry"

Neither men spoke as she sobbed quietly; all was silent until an in department memo, shaped like a paper air plane, flew into the room. It began to repeatedly bump into Lily's shoulder no matter how many times Sirius tried to swat it away. Slightly irritated, Lily stood from Sirius' lap, grabbed the parchment out of thin air and scanned over it before sending a reply.

She then wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to the two men "You have a visitor, but I'll remind you that you need your rest." she said, walked over to both men and kissing them on the cheek before making her way to the door.

"My desk is right down the hall if you need me," she turned to leave, "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask"

* * *

It was a few minutes later, when Lily was in the middle of filling out a resignation form when she heard yelling from down the corridor. Sighing, she rose from her desk and walked back towards her most troublesome of patients, hoping that they had dealt with their visitor and then sent them home.

As she drew nearer to the room, she could make out three different voices heatedly arguing.

"You're an idiot, Prongs!" she heard Remus shouted "You've chased after her for years, she's the only girl you've ever wanted and then you finally get her and you're just letting her go?"

"You two don't understand," he told them, however both Sirius and Remus would have none of that and both raised their voices in reply. "She's not safe around me!" Lily heard James yell over his mates, silencing them, "I'm in the order, I have enemies, I'm being targeted. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she died because of me!"

"Can't you see she's dying without you! She needs you and you pushed her away!" Sirius cried back in response.

"Padfoot..." Remus butted in, "Calm down!"

"Calm down! No, No Moony I will not calm down!" he retorted, "She loves you, Prongs and you're pushing her away, pushing her away because you're a blood coward. You never deserved her, I would have never helped you get her had I known this was how you were going to treat her"

Suddenly, without warning, there was a large crashing sound from inside the room. Without warning, Lily found herself running into the room, to find Sirius lying on the ground as James stood, extremely furious, above him. "Don't you dare say those words to me ever again" he hissed, lifting his mate by his collar towards his face.

Sirius quickly got up upon spotting her, dusting himself off and returning all the overturned furniture back to it's place.

She cleared her throat, hands on her hips, "Don't you think I deserve some sort of say in this?" she demanded, raising her eyebrows.

James jumped, not having seen her enter the room, quickly turning to face her. Upon seeing her face, he ran a nervous hand through his hair, "Lily" he exclaimed, surprised, "I didn't expect that you would be working this late"

"I'm sure you didn't" she hissed, "Now, I want you to listen closely to what I'm about to say, Potter."

"Potter" Sirius whispered to Remus, "This is going to be very interesting,"

He nodded his agreement, "Personally, I'm rutting for Lily in this one" he replied, just as quite, making sure to not be heard by anyone besides Sirius.

"I've told you time and time before, Potter" Lily began, spitting out every other word in pure anger, "That I can take care of myself and after the few months I've had, I've definitely come to prove that. Now you might think that you leaving me was best, but you're wrong! I don't care if you think you're a danger to me, you're probably in more danger being around me considering I'm a Mudblood"

All three men cringed at the use of the word, "I wanted to protect you" James replied, taking a step towards her. "I care so much about you-"

"Oh yeah, because it was sure caring of you to walk out on me _Potter_!" she interrupted, taking a step backwards, away from him.

"You know why I left!" he cried back "I left for your safety"

"Oh cut the crap, safety my ass!" he opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off "If you had really cared you would have realized that I can take care of my bloody self, like I have for the past four months! If you had cared you would have stayed with me!" She took a deep breath before continuing.

"But no, James Potter doesn't work that way, he gets these ideas in his fat head and then like the selfish arrogant guy he is, he takes the easy way out because HE'S A COWARD!" she shouted, pointing a finger in his direction.

Sirius grunted in approval at the mention that he was a coward,

"I do care" he said, towering over her

"No, no you don't!" she replied, her voice level returning to normal "If you really cared you would have seen how much it hurt me to have you even think about leaving me, because it hurt me James, it really did, I could probably count the night I haven't cried myself to sleep on one hand, there are that few!"

"You took my heart and you stomped on it, and it hurt so goddamn much because I love you so much!" she added, taking a frustrated step towards him only to push him backwards with as much force as she could. "But I guess, in the end it's good that you left me, it woke me up, I realized that people are always going to leave and that no one was going to come to my aid if I need them, I realized that I was going to have to learn to protect myself."

"Lily?" questioned Remus, "What do you mean?"

"I had to learn to protect myself," she repeated, "So I enrolled in the Auror academe and completed the entire course in less than five months. I'm joining the order, I'm sick and tired of waiting around to heal the people fighting for me. You showed me that no one can fight for me, if I want something done I've got to do it myself."

"Hold the line" interrupted Sirius, getting to his feet, "You finished the course in five months?"

"Four and a half" she correct him, smirking slightly.

Both he and Remus stared wide-eye at her, "Bloody hell," Remus hissed under his breath, "We had to do the whole seven months, how in the world did you manage to finish in four and a half?"

"Let's just say, they were extremely impressed with my abilities" Lily said,

Sirius was the first to smile, "Now this is going to be just fantastic," he exclaimed, "Our little Lily-flower working along side us in the field, fighting the bad guys. I'm going to get to see you every single day!"

"Hold on" James interrupted, turning to Lily, "You can't join the Order, there's no way I'm ever going to let that happen. It's way to dangerous for you out there, people die everyday in the field-"

"Don't you dare" she warned him, "You're opinion stop mattering to me a long time ago, about the same time when I find out it didn't matter to you what I thought"

"You're not joining!" he cried, "And that is final!"

"Who do you think you are?" she demanded, "You walk out of my life, then suddenly return and start controlling me! You know what, I think it's time for you to leave, visiting hours are long over and I just really don't want you here"

"I'm not going anywhere!"

She shrugged, pushing past him, "Then I'm going to leave and go back to my work, I have to finish signing some forms that verify my resignation. I don't care what you think, it's clear to me now that you don't love me."

He grabbed her wrist as she walked passed him, and turned her around. Her eyes filled with pure anger, and he realized he was going to loose her, so reacting instinctively, he crashed his lips against hers. All their combined emotion transferring into passion. Wrapped in each other's arms, both James and Lily felt the most at peace that they had in the long months that they had been a part.

"Don't you ever" he said as he pulled away from her, a little breathless "think I don't love you. I will love you for as long as I will ever live"

"And don't you forget it" she whispered softly. Standing on her toes and kissing him one more time, allowing herself to smile up at him, allowing him to hold her in his arms like he would never let her go ever again.

They both couldn't help but laugh when Remus and Sirius both erupted into cheers and claps, both equally as happy they were back together. As the night turned into the early hours of the morning, the four continued to talk and laugh. Lily had convinced the hospital to let Remus continue to recover in the comfort of his own home, assuring them that she would keep watch on him. And the four of them walked out of St. Mungo's the very next day, returning to James and Lily's home to rest and eat.

They were all extremely happy through the many days that passed, for all was right in their lives, and nothing, not even the war that was quickly approaching, could change that.


End file.
